Martin Luther King Jr.

Richard Smith conceived of the
Dollar ReDe$ign Project in 2008, out of his curiosity about why American currency
has not markedly changed in a century. He launched a design competition in 2009,
and again in 2010, with such issues to consider as size, color, imagery and functionality.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

Credit: /Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Lincoln & King

Dollar ReDe$ign Project founder Richard Smith told CBS News he contacted the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing about his ideas, and got a "real response" -- that the U.S. government is interested not in redesigning currency, but in improving anti-counterfeiting measures.

Credit: Edward Burczyk/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

George Washington

Edward Burczyk, of Tampa, Fla.,
wrote that he tried to create currency notes that were "modern and
colorful," while maintaining many of the traditional aspects of U.S. paper
money.

Each of his bills has a general theme:
government, independence, conservation, civil rights and progress.

Credit: Edward Burczyk/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Teddy Roosevelt

Conservationist President Theodore Roosevelt is paired with a bison in the American West.

Credit: Edward Burczyk/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Neil Armstrong

America's great human achievement of landing a man on the moon is commemorated in currency designs by Elvin Wong (top) and Edward Burczyk (bottom).

Credit: Elvin/Wong/Edward Burczyk/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Earhart & Parks

Redesigning currency would require
not only huge political hurdles to overcome (think of what goes into honoring someone
on a simple postage stamp!), but in infrastructure changes, like vending
machines and ATMs.

Left: Chicago-based designer Magen
Farrar wrote that she wished to pay tribute to some of the most influential
women of the past century, including aviator Amelia Earhart and civil rights
trailblazer Rosa Parks.

Credit: Magen Farrar/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, one of the
women celebrated in Magen Farrar's currency bill designs.

Credit: Magen Farrar/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Andrew Jackson

Boston University student Elvin
Wong rebranded President Andrew Jackson's appearance on the $20.

Credit: Elvin Wong/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Nicola Tesla

Elvin Wong's design featuring scientist Nicola Tesla.

Credit: Elvin Wong/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Innovators

Another set by Elvin Wong submitted
to the Dollar ReDe$ign website is titled "We Seek …"

"It's based on what I
think we should pursue everyday as Americans," wrote Wong. Through daily use, money will serve as a reminder
to us "to seek those ideals like how the heroes we immortalize on our
currency had done."

Credit: Elvin Wong/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Beginning With Liberty

Gardiner Moody, of Maine,
submitted his currency designs to the Dollar ReDe$ign Project.

He writes, "My idea was to
enshrine on our money the concepts that have made America great: Liberty,
Equality, Justice, Human Rights, Creativity and Science.

"Having liberty as the
'basic' principle seemed fitting," said Moody, so he assigned it to the $1
bill. "From my perspective, without liberty there could be none of the
latter."

Consequently, each bill's theme
sets up the next, higher bill: liberty
begets equality, which begets justice, etc.: "This metaphor even goes so
far as to say, 'Without creativity there could be no science.'"

Credit: Gardiner Moody/Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Martin Luther King

Noting that the $100 bill is
the most widely-used form of U.S. currency abroad, Vancouver-based web designer Richard Winchell gave
prominence to icons of freedom: on the front, Martin Luther King, Jr., and on
the back, the Statue of Liberty.

The vertical designs of Winchell's currency reference Swiss Francs and old Dutch Guilders. Winchell did
not submit a design for a $1 bill, saying that paper money of that denomination
should be phased out in favor of a $1 coin, as a cost-saving measure.

Notables

Currency by Adriana Hurtado, of
San Antonio, Texas, uses figures not just from politics, but also those who
made a significant impact on the nation's culture. Her designs feature 20th century luminaries like Frank Lloyd Wright, Lucille Ball, Walt Disney, Helen
Keller and Frank Sinatra.